


Part of Your World

by channingtatum



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-11
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-17 08:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3522785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/channingtatum/pseuds/channingtatum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So it’s ready?” Asami bobbed up and down with excitement. “You bet your royal tookus! Took us long enough, but turning that crank got Zhu Li’s brain crank going fast enough to turn out some brilliant new ideas!” Zhu Li smiled tiredly. “Let’s just hope it works,” she said, holding up crossed fingers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Part of Your World

It was the loudest boat on those waters in some time. People sang and shouted and stomped along with the band’s festive, brassy music, enjoying their celebration.

No one noticed a pair of green eyes peeking through the deck's railing.

Asami gazed at the party with fascination. What was it like to dance with legs? Her long maroon tail swayed to the music, gently splashing the water she was still partially submerged in. But a sharp voice on the deck next to her snapped her out of her reverie. “Hey, we really should get out of here.” Asami laughed quietly and patted the skittery little crab beside her on the head. “Relax, Mako. No one can see us.” “Yeah, Mako, lighten up!” Bolin added. “We’re just here to enjoy the groovy tunes.” He leapt out of the water with a demonstrative twist and turn, and Asami smiled at the little yellow and blue fish as thanks for backing her up.

But Mako was not to be deterred. “I can’t deny the tunes are groovy, but the king’s gonna bust us all if we have you back late _again_.” Asami sighed. “ _Fine_ ,” she grumbled, “we can leave soon, but just a couple more minutes, okay?” After a moment’s hesitation Mako nodded. Satisfied, Asami turned her attention back to the dancers and let out a small gasp. There was a girl she hadn’t noticed before--brown skin, short dark hair, rippling muscles, head thrown back with laughter as she danced with a huge white furry beast.

“Or like, ten more minutes,” she amended to Mako, eyes fixated on the girl. Mako harrumphed. “What’s so great about these people? Dancing under the sea is _much_ more graceful...” Asami nodded as he went on, not really listening. Suddenly something flew out of the dancing girl’s pocket, so enthusiastic was her dancing, and skidded across the deck right to Asami, who caught it quickly before it could fall into the water. Looking confused, the girl stopped dancing and started walking in the direction the object had gone, searching the deck. After a moment her eyes found Asami’s and she stopped abruptly in her tracks.

Their eyes locked for a second, two, three, and then the girl started walking towards her with curiosity on her face. Asami unconsciously squeezed the object tighter in her fist. “Okay, time to go,” she murmured to Mako and Bolin before diving back down, deep into the ocean.

 

* * *

 

It was well past Asami's curfew by the time she, Mako, and Bolin caught sight of the underwater palace that was her home. But instead of heading for the palace, Asami veered off to the right. “Asami, no!” Mako groaned. “We don't have time for this, your dad will kill me.” “Oh, shush,” she responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We'll only be a minute.”

She led the way through a series of twists and turns between sunken ships and chasms until they reached her favorite place in the whole ocean: her grotto. As soon as she set tail inside she sighed with contentedness. The small space was filled with hundreds of human contraptions, varying greatly in size and shape, but all filled with mysterious gears and systems she ached to understand, and probably could, if only they worked underwater.

Asami uncurled her fist and examined the object she'd accidentally stolen from the girl on the boat. It was circular and flattish, with numbers around the edges of one side. Two pointers sat at an awkward angle. She'd seen this kind of thing before; in fact, she had a large crate full of similar objects around here somewhere...but that wasn't where this belonged.

“Can we go home yet?” Mako griped. “Hey, no hurry, I love this place!” Bolin exclaimed, speeding his way through an obstacle course of Asami's trinkets and knocking over several in the process. Asami laughed. “Almost.” She swam up to the highest shelf in the grotto and gently lifted the lid of a small box. There were very few things inside: her first seashell, a particularly pretty stone, a necklace that had belonged to her mother. She placed the girl's lost contraption carefully alongside the old keepsakes and closed the box.

“Alright, Mako, don't get your claws in a twist. Time to go home.”

* * *

 The next morning Asami was woken by a dull thumping at her door. “What is it?” she called groggily. “‘Sami, it's Bolin! Open up!” Ugh. It _had_ to be someone without hands to open the door himself. Reluctantly she swam over to the door and let him in. He looked a little winded, presumably from throwing himself repeatedly at her door in lieu of knocking.

“Your dad wants to see you,” he panted, and her stomach dropped. If he was summoning her this early in the morning for no apparent reason, it couldn't be good.

A short while later Asami approached her father on his throne. He looked tired--whether in general, or just tired of her behavior, it was hard to say. “Good morning, Father! You’re looking well,” she greeted him with a bright smile, hoping that being extra polite might encourage him to soften whatever he was about to say.

“Hello, Asami,” King Hiroshi replied, not seeming to be affected by her pleasantries. “Where were you last night?” Busted. “Umm…” Asami glanced at Bolin, who gave her a little fish shrug. “I went to a party with Bolin and Mako.” Technically, that was true.

The king frowned. “Mako told me you went to the surface. _Again_.” A small flash of red caught Asami’s eye and she realized the snitching crustacean was there on the arm of her father’s throne, probably trying to hide from her. Asami pouted. “Mako, you little--” “He was just doing his duty,” Hiroshi interrupted. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Mako piped up, but Hiroshi ignored him. He fixed Asami with a stern stare and continued, “Unlike you.”

Asami flushed dark red. “What do you mean? I haven’t missed any meetings or anything, and I always--” “A princess’s duty is to be here for her people. That means staying in the kingdom, close to the castle where you’re supposed to be, and above all, staying out of danger.” “But I wasn’t in any danger!” Asami protested. “We were being careful, and no one saw me.” _Well, almost no one._ “And I was able to collect another human invention. I’m getting closer every day to figuring them out. They might be useful to us!”

Hiroshi shook his head. “Asami…” He sighed. “I forbid you from going to the surface ever again.” “What?!” Asami exclaimed, her voice squeaking with surprise. “What do you mean, ‘ever again’?” Heaving yet another sigh, Hiroshi rose from his throne and floated closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I mean, I command you to stay here, within the palace grounds, so you’ll be safe. You are my only family and I can’t let anything happen to you. Remember your mother--”

“I know what happened to Mom,” Asami snapped, pulling away from him. “And it wasn’t her fault. You know that.” Hiroshi’s expression hardened. “I do. It was the humans’ fault. And now the kingdom is left without a queen, me without a wife, you without a mother. Humans are not to be trusted or associated with in any way.” His voice grew louder and harsher with each word. “And I forbid you from seeing them or going near them ever again!”

“If you would just trust me--” Asami practically shouted, but Hiroshi had already turned around to return to his throne. “No, Asami. Go.” Eyes welling up with tears, Asami rushed away.

* * *

 Asami hadn’t really ever been the type to rebel on purpose. Sure, she’d gotten a bellybutton piercing as a young teen after a fight with her dad to make him squirm, but it’d given her an infection and she’d had to stop wearing it after a couple of days anyway. And she’d never _technically_ been allowed to go to the surface, and was always supposed to be back before curfew, but Hiroshi had usually been lenient enough that she kind of figured those were more like guidelines.

This was different. This was new.

Asami drew a shaky breath and knocked on the door before her. She could hear clanging and whirring inside; it might be too loud for them to hear her. She knocked again, harder. “Varrick? Zhu Li? Are you in there?” she shouted through the door.

“We have company! Zhu Li, stop the thing!” she heard Varrick yell, and the noise stopped abruptly. A few seconds later the door opened, revealing a frazzled but excited Varrick. “Asami! Glad you’re here, Princess.” He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her over to some giant contraption, presumably the source of all the commotion. “We could use some help with this crank. Zhu Li’s getting tired.” Zhu Li, sitting in a chair next to the machine, did indeed look exhausted.

Varrick pushed Asami’s hands onto the crank with enough force to start it turning, and the cacophony immediately started up again. “Um, okay.” Asami obediently continued to turn the crank, which took a lot more strength than it looked like it should. “But, I’m actually here to ask for _your_ help. I need you to try and make something for me.”

“Oh yeah? Whaddya want? Cure for a headache? Extra speedy swimming? Love potion?” Varrick interrogated, waggling his eyebrows at the last one. As the official palace inventors, Varrick and Zhu Li were always mixing up all kinds of weird concoctions, many of which seemed to be fairly useless. But they were the best at what they did, and could get almost anything to work. So Asami took a deep breath and began.

“Actually, what I’m hoping for is something a little more complicated than that.” She let go of the crank, and Zhu Li rushed in to take over. “I want…” She gulped. “I want to turn into a human.”

* * *

A week passed, then two, and still no official word from Varrick. Every once in a while Asami would make her way up to their small corner of the castle and check on them. Each time she received an assurance that they were getting closer every day, but there was still nothing to show for it, and Asami was starting to get impatient. She hadn’t been to the surface since her fight with her father, to keep things peaceful between them for now. Luckily, her visits to Varrick and Zhu Li were nothing to be suspicious about, since she often helped them with their projects anyway, and she’d sworn them to secrecy on their current endeavor.

Finally, one morning as she was chatting with Bolin and Mako in her room, a fist-sized stone came flying (more like floating) through her open window. She rushed over to pick it up and saw a message scrawled on it in Varrick’s loopy handwriting: _IT’S READY_. A huge smile spread across her face. Finally.

“What’s that?” Mako asked as he scuttled over to get a closer look. “Oh, nothing,” Asami lied, hiding the stone behind her back. “Come on, what is it?” Bolin whined, trying to get around her to look at it, but she dodged his attempts. “I told you, it’s nothing!”

Suddenly Bolin stopped and looked out the window. “What’s that girl from the boat doing down here?” “What?!” Asami whipped around to look out the window and Bolin zipped around her to look at the rock. “‘It’s ready’?” he read aloud. “What’s ready?”

Asami flushed a deep red, embarrassed she'd fallen for such a stupid trick and unable to come up with a lie fast enough. “Um, Varrick and Zhu Li are making something for me,” she admitted. “Or, already made, I guess.”

“Well, what is it?” Mako asked, sounding wary. Asami shook her head. “I can’t tell you unless you promise not to tell my dad.” “Asami, you know I can’t promise that,” Mako groaned, but she turned up her nose at him. “Fine, then I’ll only tell Bolin.” “YES!” Bolin somersaulted twice, whipping up a flurry of bubbles. Asami waited until finally Mako sighed, “Fine, I promise, just tell us already.” Asami grinned, secretly relieved that she was finally able to share her secret with her best friends. “They’ve made me a potion that will turn me into a human.”

The next couple of minutes were filled with an unintelligible garble of whooping from Bolin and moaning from Mako. While Asami waited for them to calm down she grabbed a small bag and filled it with a few necessities: a comb, a change of seashells, some snacks. Then she pulled her box of keepsakes out from under her bed--she’d moved it there after the fight with her dad, in case he got any ideas about destroying her human treasures to try to remove her attachment to them. Smiling slightly, she fastened her mother’s necklace around her neck. Wearing an old keepsake on a new adventure seemed fitting. After a second’s hesitation, she also removed the trinket she’d accidentally stolen from the girl on the boat and placed it in her bag. Maybe she’d run into her on her adventure.

“Well,” she said loudly, cutting off the boys’ jabbering, “I’m off to become a human. You’re welcome to accompany me to the lab if you’d like.” And with that she set off for Varrick and Zhu Li’s lab, the small fish and even smaller crab struggling to keep up with her.

“So,” Mako panted as they went, “what prompted this terrible idea?” Asami rolled her eyes. “It’s a _good_ idea,” she insisted. “I bet it was that girl,” Bolin teased, and Asami blushed. “No,” she said defensively, “I just really want to see what’s up there. If my dad’s right--if humans are terrible, if they’ve got nothing good to offer--I’ll come back with no more fuss, period. But I’m going to prove him wrong. I’m going to have an adventure on land so I can know for myself.”

They reached the lab quickly and Asami pounded on the door. “Hey, hey, keep your tail on!” she heard Varrick shout through the door. She stopped knocking, but thwacked the door with her tail impatiently. After a minute he let her in. Both he and Zhu Li looked simultaneously exhausted and ecstatic. “Come in, come in! Just wait till you see what we’ve got for you! Oh, you brought the snooty lobster.” “I’m a crab,” Mako said irritably.

“So it’s ready?” Asami bobbed up and down with excitement. “You bet your royal tookus! Took us long enough, but turning that crank got Zhu Li’s brain crank going fast enough to turn out some brilliant new ideas!” Zhu Li smiled tiredly. “Let’s just hope it works,” she said, holding up crossed fingers.

Varrick held out a sealed flask filled with a sapphire-blue liquid, but pulled it away as Asami reached for it. “Not so fast, Princess! A couple of disclaimers. We’re pretty sure it will work, but there could be unforeseen side effects such as loss of hair, enhanced irritability, or general itchiness,” he rattled off almost too quickly to understand. “Also, this is just a trial run, so I wouldn’t expect it to last longer than two, three days tops. If it works and you like it, once it wears off and you come back we can work on something more long-term. Sound copacetic?”

Asami nodded eagerly. “Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.” “Anything for the princess,” Zhu Li replied with a chuckle. “And we always appreciate the opportunity to turn the ol’ brain cranks,” Varrick added, tapping the side of his head for effect. “Are you ready?” He held the flask back out to her.

Asami breathed deeply and took the flask from him. “Yes.” “Are you sure about this?” Mako asked nervously. Asami smiled. “Yes.” And with that she unstopped the flask and drank down the bright blue liquid in one swig.

She could feel it immediately. A searing pain in her tail that felt as if it were being ripped in two. A burning in her throat. “Oh my--” she started to say, but she choked on the words. Her eyes widened with panic as she realized that she was quickly losing the ability to breathe underwater. “Quick! We have to get her to the surface!” Zhu Li yelled as she and Varrick pushed Asami out the window and into the open water. She was only vaguely aware of each of them grabbing onto one of her arms and pulling her up, up, up, and the last thing she saw was a blur of red and yellow before everything faded to black.

**Author's Note:**

> my first attempt at fanfiction, hope you liked it! based somewhat on tumblr user sato-mobile's thoughts on a korrasami little mermaid AU. thanks to tumblr user raplapla for being my beta as i believe the kids call it these days, but she really only told me she liked the part about mako being a snooty lobster.
> 
> OH and in case it isn't clear here are the character parallels between lok and tlm:  
> asami as ariel  
> korra as eric  
> mako as sebastian  
> bolin as flounder  
> hiroshi sato as king triton  
> varrick and zhu li as the ursula equivalent


End file.
